Chapter 166: Hina's Attack
At the location where the Calm Belt meets the East Blue, the entire Eric crew gathered.
"Really? That guy managed to slip away..." Eric sneered, disappointed that Sabo's scumbag father had taken advantage of the situation.
The other nobles had all been captured, and Eric ordered them to push Sabo's father onto the throne.
Even without holding anything over them, the terrifying interrogation by Esdeath had left deep scars in their minds, making them too scared to even think about resisting.
Controlling a country from the shadows still had its perks; part of the country's tax revenue and many of the nobles' estates had greatly added to their wealth.
"Does Eric not like this choice? Should I go back and pick a new king? Anyway, the other nobles will probably be happy with it," Esdeath eagerly thought about returning to the Goa Kingdom.
It wasn't exactly like returning to a wolf's den…
"Forget it, forget it..." Eric grabbed Esdeath's pale left hand and slammed it onto the table.
Esdeath blushed, "Eric... you grabbed my hand..."
The others glanced at Esdeath sideways, but Esdeath didn't care.
Chiron, the strategist, began explaining the current situation in Goa Kingdom. "Since we exposed the truth behind last year's fire, the lower-class citizens in Goa Kingdom now know the truth, and their impression of the royal family and nobles has worsened. Protests are breaking out all over the kingdom."
"Since Esdeath wiped out the kingdom's army, they now rely on a few palace guards and their weapon advantage to protect the high town. Those nobles can't even get out of the town's gates now."
"The nobles know that the citizens hate them to the bone, and they've been spending large sums to recruit armies, but most of the people they've managed to recruit are just local ruffians, thugs, and small-time criminals."
Eric smirked. Recruiting thugs would certainly ruin military discipline. If they grew too large, the common folk would suffer.
But that would probably take years; it could be dealt with later.
He then asked, "Luffy and Ace actually joined in this operation? Are they okay?"
Perona quietly muttered, "They haven't been physically harmed, but they might have been mentally affected."
Esdeath shot her a glance, and Perona immediately fell silent.
Esdeath added, "After the broadcast, we gave them a large sum of money, and they happily carried it off, no issues at all."
"However," Scáthach added, "After going through such a brutal experience, the two boys' mindset should have changed a lot."
Scáthach used her clairvoyance to see the future, glancing at Esdeath without leaving a trace. Esdeath, with her keen senses, noticed Scáthach 's gaze and smiled with the joy of finding prey.
The two silently stared at each other for a moment, performing a silent mime for the group.
Everyone: "?"
Deidara complained, "You guys have such interesting missions, unlike over here where we spend most of our time flying in the sky, and in the end, we only saved one fishman. Hm."
"Didn't we also frame a government official, turning him into a wanted criminal, and have the entire city's citizens chase him down?"
"Hah? In the end, those stupid citizens, under so many pairs of eyes, still let that trash escape. I just... Hm."
"Don't overestimate those citizens' intelligence. They've all been played by those foolish CP organizations, how smart could they be?"
"By the way, Chiron," Eric shifted his focus to the most important treasure, "How's the haul this time?"
"We checked out the Goa Kingdom's treasury, which contains centuries of savings from the royal family, along with most of the nobles' assets. The amount of treasure and beli is incalculable. The vault is filled to the brim," Chiron reported.
"Hehe," Eric drooled, his eyes turning into dollar signs.
"The way your eyes change when you see money is completely different from others," Perona pointed out, seizing the blind spot.
"Forget that, just let me see it already!" Eric, in a rush, ran toward the treasury.
"Why are there so few people? Where did everyone go?" Eric looked back and noticed that only Akame, Kurumi, and Chiron were following him.
Chiron chuckled, "They've already seen the treasure while moving it. Deidara also left with the excuse 'money has no value in art.'"
"Really..." Eric muttered. "I didn't know how hard life was until I had to handle the bills."
Eric placed his hand on the door, and Chiron, still smiling, took a large step to the right.
Eric curiously asked, "What's going on? Is there a problem?"
"No." Chiron answered, but then took a small step to the right, distancing himself further from the door.
Akame and Kurumi did the same, standing behind Chiron.
"You guys are making me scared to open it!" Eric said, but in his own ship, what could go wrong? He steeled himself and slammed the door open.
"Clang!" A pile of gold coins, higher than a person, came rushing out like an avalanche, burying Eric under them.
"Thud."
A gold bowl lightly fell on Eric's head.
"Hahaha!" Kurumi covered her mouth and laughed, walking over to Eric's head, preparing to pull him out from under the treasure.
Eric muttered, "Ah... I see, black..."
As Eric's face met a boot with a thickened sole, he was stomped down into the pile.
"Akame, let's go! Don't worry about him." Kurumi angrily turned away and dragged her ally with her.
"Mm."
Even though Kurumi's face wasn't visible, Eric could tell from her red ears that she was blushing.
"Ah, Kurumi is so cute~"
"Bang bang bang!" Kurumi, with a flushed face, fired shots, but the bullets didn't have any haki wrapped around them.
In Chiron's eyes, it was more like playful flirting.
Sigh, another lonely bachelor. Chiron sighed quietly.
...
The pink-haired Hina saluted respectfully, "Vice Admiral Garp , we have four days of travel left to the Goa Kingdom."
Originally, Hina wasn't directly under Garp 's command, but when she heard that the navy hero Garp was heading to the Goa Kingdom to capture the Eric Pirates, she disregarded navy headquarters' discipline and immediately ran to Garp to sign up, boarding the warship chasing Eric.
Hina bit her lip hard, angrily thinking, 'Eric, this time I will lock you up in Impel Down!'
"Mm." Garp , with a serious look, stared at the intelligence, not noticing Hina standing beside him. His face flickered between red and green, like a neon light.
Although the Eric Pirates had already left Goa Kingdom three days ago, Garp was still very worried about Luffy and Ace's safety, not even finishing his senbei on his plate.
Garp 's loyal aide spoke up, "The royal family in Goa Kingdom was completely wiped out, and 70% of the nobles are gone. It's truly a catastrophe."
Garp didn't care about the nobles' lives; collectively, they weren't even worth Luffy's hair.
Garp , without thinking, blurted out, "Those scumbags should all be dead. I blame that ice-wielding girl for not killing them all, letting those bastards keep riding roughshod over the citizens."
"Vice Admiral Garp , be careful with your words!" The aide almost rushed to cover Garp 's mouth, remembering that a certain Hina, who wasn't part of their team, was in the room!
Of course, Hina, still focused on her death enemy, didn't hear.
Eric, lying in the pile of treasure, sneezed loudly.
"Who's thinking of me?"
(END CHAPTER)
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